Russia said Saturday it would expel 23 British diplomats and close a British consulate following London's "provocative" measures over the poisoning of a double agent that has triggered a fierce diplomatic row.

Russia says it is currently considering “retaliatory measures” against Britain, which has threatened to take punitive measures against Moscow over accusations that the Russian state was behind an alleged nerve agent attack on a former Russian spy in southern England.

Over 300 people left Syria's Eastern Ghouta district since a humanitarian corridor opened there, RIA news agency cited a representative for Russia's cease-fire monitoring center in Syria as saying on Wednesday.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Wednesday accused the United States of seeking to partition Syria, saying the US aims to maintain a foothold in the war-torn country for a long time, “if not forever,” using chemical weapons provocations to achieve this objective